A Sandwich a Day: Roast Beef, Eggplant, and Mozz at Defonte's

In this great city of ours, one could eat a different sandwich every day of the year—so that's what we'll do. Here's A Sandwich a Day, our daily look at sandwiches around New York. Got a sandwich we should check out? Let us know.—The Mgmt.

[Photo: Robyn Lee]

The roast beef, mozzarella, and eggplant sandwich ($9.75) from Defonte's is nothing short of a classic. Though it's the original shop (opened in Red Hook in 1922) that made a name for Defonte's, we're just as happy with their second shop in Gramercy. There, too, you'll find fall-apart roast beef, lean but incredibly juicy, piled on terrific crusty seeded Italian bread—crusty and thick enough to soak up the jus ladled on top. It's layered with house-made mozzarella and gets a bit of salty extra weight from paper-thin slices of fried eggplant. It's not a light lunch—but really, what fun is a light lunch?

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I've been a part of Serious Eats since 2006, when I was Ed Levine's first intern. After a stint freelancing for New York and national publications, I came back as the New York editor in 2008 and then the Senior Managing Editor, overseeing all of the other sites that make up the Serious Eats universe. Now, I'm a freelance writer; find me on various corners of the Internet!